The State we are in
The majority of Indian teachers are changing or updating themselves a little to meet up the international standards of teaching. The Principals concur, and to an extent, it makes sense, that these technologies will never replace the physical presence of a teacher, instead complement the entire teaching process.
But teachers clinging to the traditional teaching and seeming least serious about learning to implement technology in their teaching styles, perhaps could face serious problems in the long run. Especially, when technology is only changing our phone and laptops as of now.
Blended or Hybrid Learning
Very few of the teachers have even heard about blended or hybrid learning. A concept that is gaining immense popularity in Europe and the US over the past few years, where 25-50 percent of the classroom is replaced by with the online or out of class work.
About 80 percent of the western teachers agreed that students are more motivated when computers and internet are being made available to them.
For instance, to name a few private organizations, Microsoft and intel have played their role in this sphere.
Microsoft promoted low cost access to software for schools in countries like Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa. Likewise, Intel’s Intel Teach that ran in Ghana, Egypt, Nigeria, and South Africa reached millions of teachers in 40 Countries.
Coming back to India, Bihar Government took such an initiative for implementing computer-based learning in around 244 Schools under an E-learning project. To appreciate its efforts, it was awarded Manthan South-Asia award in the year 2010.
Reincarnation of Education
To play the role of digital teaching gods, there are some ace entrepreneurs and ardent educationist who have founded some famous academies or digital dormitories to provide free education for anyone, anywhere and anytime. They exhibit the power of innovative teaching ideas and themes.
Salman Khan, for instance, is a famous Indian all around the world for his Khan Academy. But he is not the last diamond in the necklace. You can find countless Indians who are doing a phenomenal job in the digital learning, and are potentially very revolutionary in popularizing online study-materials and technological tools in learning and teaching for both Indian teachers and students alike.
Getting into the Pace of Hybrid Learning
Rohit Manglik proved it through EduGorilla by creating a digital dormitory that caters to students and academics alike. Recently,
EduGorilla championed the huge listing of coaching institutions in India. It has now
more than 56,000 coaching centers in its directory. It has also attained the tag of being
the largest market place by housing more than 30,000 products.
To cater the technological needs of primary education, there are many dedicated Edtech companies like Prepmyskills, who impart online education to children which ranges from Life skills education to solving almost every problem they may come across.
Whereas, digital tools are yet to pick up in colleges and universities. To drive growth in the long term, Improvements in infrastructure, electricity and bandwidth access along with funding will be required.
The time demands we need to realize that we have to change very quickly and intelligently. The world is getting forward at an unprecedented pace with the state of technologies we have witnessed like never before.
